Woohoo! A Tesla S, BMW i3 and a Volt have joined our test panel, and a lucky volunteer has a Zoe coming for Christmas.

We now have 41 vehicles registered: 8 in three fleets and 33 individually-owned vehicles

Apart from people being away, sick or disrupted by the Kaikoura earthquake, we are have over a 95% participation rate each month, so there are few gaps in the data. Thanks! That’s a good signal for the scientific credentials of the project should we be able to develop the software and publically launch.

At least three of you did not receive the automated email reminders to upload their data – they are probably being diverted by spam filters. Please contact us immediately if you haven’t received your reminder by 2nd of each month so that we can try to track what is happening. Some of you may need to load an exception to your spam filter to accept mail from Flip The Fleet.

Some examples of how we will use the results

The registration (background ‘static’ variables) are needed to calculate performance and EV impact metrics, but they also have value in themselves to figure out how best to accelerate EV uptake. For example:

Of 32 individuals/families monitoring privately owned vehicles for the test panel so far, 23 (72%) also run at least one ICE (for towing, long-trips etc.). Perhaps the transitional uptake strategy and advocacy should concentrate on promoting the practical mix of vehicles at home, even if the longer term goal is to eliminate the ICEs or encourage use of communally operated vehicles rather than having extra cars languishing at home?

Six (15%) of the 41 test vehicles are partly or wholly charged by solar panels or windmills. How much will increased private solar and wind energy generation accelerate LEV uptake, and vice versa?

Although there is some concentration of travel in urban areas, many LEVs are used in the country. This is important for efficiency comparisons and predictions of energy needs. Don’t let anyone tell you that LEVs are just good for around town!

1-click Surveys

Our first 1-click survey confirmed that over 90% of you would buy a BEV if you ever buy another car again. You can download a one-page summary of the results and add your comments at flipthefleet.org/discussion/.

This first 1-click survey was an example of a general teaser that we hope to use to promote BEVs in social and mainstream media campaign next year.

Each 1-click survey will be closed 7 days after each is launched and then reported at flipthefleet.org/discussion/ rather than mailed out to you – we don’t want to bombard your Inbox more than absolutely necessary to trigger data gathering.

We want Flip the Fleet to be your project and your voice, so please suggest questions that you would like to ask of your fellow BEV owners.

Feedback please!

OK, what do you think of the show so far? Keep the data and feedback coming please – brick bats, scepticism and affirmations of what we are doing right all help steer your project.